The Historical Anthropology Of Early Modern Italy

This volume presents an original view of the culture of early modern Italy. The book addresses particular themes - specifically those of perception and communication - as well as serving to exemplify modes of analysis in the currently developing field of historical anthropology.

Early Modern Italy is a fascinating survey of society in Italy from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries - the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. Covering the whole of the Peninsula from the Venetian Republic, to Florence, through to Naples it shows how the huge economic, cultural and social divides of the period still affect the stability of present day united Italy. This is an essential guide to one of the most vibrant yet tempestuous periods of Italian history.

In this brilliant and widely acclaimed work, Peter Burke presents a social and cultural history of the Italian Renaissance. He discusses the social and political institutions that existed in Italy during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and he analyses the ways of thinking and seeing that characterized this period of extraordinary artistic creativity. Developing a distinctive sociological approach, Peter Burke is concerned not only with the finished works of Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, and others, but also with the social background, patterns of recruitment, and means of subsistence of this 'cultural elite.' He thus makes a major contribution to our understanding of the Italian Renaissance, and to our comprehension of the complex relations between culture and society. Burke has thoroughly revised and updated the text for this new edition, including a new introduction, and the book is richly illustrated throughout. It will have a wide appeal among historians, sociologists, and anyone interested in one of the most creative periods of European history.

Italy's early modern period is still considered by many to be little more than a long interval of decadence between the flowering of the Renaissance city-states and the progress of the Risorgimento. In this, comprehensive, introductory survey of the political, social, cultural, and economic history of early modern Italy-the first of its kind in the English language-Gregory Hanlon throws light on a neglected and influential era. Taking a thematic approach, the author covers all aspects of life in early modern Italy: the family, the Republics, Baroque art, religion, the economy, disease, philosophy, justice, and much more, building up a vivid picture of the so-called "forgotten centuries" of Italian history.

This collection of eleven essays furthers the dialogue between early modern history and the social sciences through an analysis of Fernand Braudel's The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World of Philip II. The contributors review various historiographical traditions to arrive at conclusions on contemporary theory and practice in the exchange between history and the disciplines of geography, economics, sociology, anthropology, politics (diplomatic history and the study of revolutions), psychology (law), religion, and area studies (China and the Americas). Contributors Peter Burke, Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge Jan de Vries, University of California, Berkeley Mark Elvin, Australian National University, Canberra Jack A. Goldstone, University of California, Davis Antonio Manuel Hespanha, Universidade Nova de Lisboa Henry Kamen, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Institució Milà i Fontanals, Barcelona John A. Marino, University of California, San Diego Ottavia Niccoli, Università degli Studi di Trento Anthony Pagden, University of California, Los Angeles M. J. Rodríguez-Salgado, London School of Economics Bartolomé Yun Casalilla, Universidad Pablo de Olavide de Sevilla

Domestic Devotions in Early Modern Italy illuminates the vibrancy of spiritual beliefs and practices which profoundly shaped family life in this era. Scholarship on Catholicism has tended to focus on institutions, but the home was the site of religious instruction and reading, prayer and meditation, communal worship, multi-sensory devotions, contemplation of religious images and the performance of rituals, as well as extraordinary events such as miracles. Drawing on a wide range of sources, this volume affirms the central place of the household to spiritual life and reveals the myriad ways in which devotion met domestic needs. The seventeen essays encompass religious history, the histories of art and architecture, material culture, musicology, literary history, and social and cultural history. Contributors are Erminia Ardissino, Michele Bacci, Michael J. Brody, Giorgio Caravale, Maya Corry, Remi Chiu, Sabrina Corbellini, Stefano Dall’Aglio, Marco Faini, Iain Fenlon, Irene Galandra Cooper, Jane Garnett, Joanna Kostylo, Alessia Meneghin, Margaret A. Morse, Elisa Novi Chavarria, Gervase Rosser, Zuzanna Sarnecka, Katherine Tycz, and Valeria Viola.

This book offers a comparison of lay and inquisitorial witchcraft prosecutions. In most of the early modern period, witchcraft jurisdiction in Italy rested with the Roman Inquisition, whereas in Denmark only the secular courts raised trials. Kallestrup explores the narratives of witchcraft as they were laid forward by people involved in the trials.

Human bodies have been represented and defined in various ways across different cultures and historical periods. As an object of interpretation and site of social interaction, the body has throughout history attracted more attention than perhaps any other element of human experience. The essays in this volume explore the manifestations of the body in Italian society from the fourteenth through the seventeenth centuries. Adopting a variety of interdisciplinary approaches, these fresh and thought-provoking essays offer original perspectives on corporeality as understood in the early modern literature, art, architecture, science, and politics of Italy. An impressively diverse group of contributors comment on a broad range and variety of conceptualizations of the body, creating a rich dialogue among scholars of early modern Italy. Contributors: Albert R. Ascoli, University of California, Berkeley; Douglas Biow, The University of Texas at Austin; Margaret Brose, University of California, Santa Cruz; Anthony Colantuono, University of Maryland, College Park; Elizabeth Horodowich, New Mexico State University; Sergius Kodera, New Design University, St. Pölten, Austria; Jeanette Kohl, University of California, Riverside; D. Medina Lasansky, Cornell University; Luca Marcozzi, Roma Tre University; Ronald L. Martinez, Brown University; Katharine Park, Harvard University; Sandra Schmidt, Free University of Berlin; Bette Talvacchia, University of Connecticut